In this interview, we meet the team behind FLORA, a collaborative effort between ATHENA Research Center in Greece and OPSIS-Research in Romania. Blending deep expertise in AI, federated learning, and privacy-preserving technologies with a strong focus on user experience and clinical relevance, FLORA aims to modernize ovulation tracking. Their goal is simple yet powerful: provide accurate, personalized insights while keeping sensitive health data entirely on users’ devices. Supported by TrustChain, the team is shaping a new standard for digital health—one that prioritizes both intelligence and privacy.
Can you briefly present your team?
FLORA is developed in partnership between ATHENA Research Center in Greece and OPSIS-Research in Romania. ATHENA contributes its strong expertise in artificial intelligence, federated learning and privacy preserving technologies, while OPSIS brings experience in mobile development, user experience design and working closely with clinicians. Together we combine technical depth with end-user focus.
How did you come up with this project idea and what benefits will it bring to the end users?
The idea for FLORA came from the realization that many popular cycle and ovulation tracking apps are useful, but they often do not offer sufficient guarantees or protection of user privacy. We wanted to show that sensitive health data can stay on a person’s own device, while still benefiting from collective intelligence through federated learning. For end users this means they receive accurate ovulation predictions, easy-to-understand insights and the peace of mind that their data is not being shared or misused.
How is TrustChain supporting your growth and what role does it play for the next steps in your development?
TrustChain has been more than just funding; it has given us the technical building blocks, the testbed to validate our approach, and most importantly, a vibrant community to exchange ideas with. Through this community we gathered feedback that helped us refine our roadmap and see new opportunities we hadn’t considered at the start. With this support, we are now better prepared to scale up our pilots and move towards integration into a broader ecosystem, while staying aligned with real user needs.
Why did you apply to the TrustChain call and has your vision changed since then?
We applied because TrustChain’s values of privacy, trust and decentralization matched perfectly with our vision for FLORA. The vision itself has not changed, but it has matured. Working closely with users showed us that we needed to simplify the experience, put more emphasis on ease of use and keep the focus on ovulation prediction as the central feature. In that sense, our vision has become more concrete and user
driven.
What is the most valuable takeout from the TrustChain project and why was the topic of the Open Call important to you/your team?
The most valuable lesson is that privacy-preserving technologies are powerful, but they only succeed if they are non-invasive and simple for the user. We learned how to balance strong guarantees like federated learning and encrypted consent with a user journey that feels natural. What made the Open Call important was that it connected our ideas with real user needs, showing us how technology for privacy and trust can directly improve people’s everyday health experiences.
Did you establish collaboration with any of the TrustChain teams or plan for any kind of synergies? If yes, what is the biggest potential in such collaborations?
Yes, we had the chance to align our work with other TrustChain teams, especially on consent management and blockchain. The biggest potential in these collaborations is interoperability. If our main module for federated training can plug seamlessly into other NGI services, then the whole ecosystem grows stronger and more useful to citizens.
What are your expectations regarding the TrustChain software ecosystem and its contribution to the NGI priority areas?
We expect TrustChain to become a reliable source of software components that others can adopt without having to reinvent the wheel. By focusing on verifiable consent, digital identity and secure data sharing, the ecosystem directly contributes to NGI priorities of trust, openness and user empowerment. For us, it means that we can focus on delivering value to end users while standing on a strong foundation.
What are the next steps for your team?
Our next steps are to further refine our technology, making predictions more personalized and expanding to new data sources such as wearables. We also want to strengthen the transparency of the system, so that users and clinicians can understand why a prediction was made.
What is the message you would give to new and potential applicants to TrustChain Open Calls?
Our advice is to stay close to your users from the very beginning and let their feedback shape your product. Make privacy and trust central to your design, not an afterthought. And make the most of the TrustChain ecosystem, because it offers tools and collaborations that can really accelerate your work.